It’s a cliché but it’s true: Tokyo changes after dark. A “scrap and build” approach to housing and commercial property since the end of the second world war has left the relatively young Japanese capital feeling disjointed. There’s no uniformity to the architecture. At least, not until the sun sets and the lights come on. Suddenly, bathed in neon, you find yourself sharing the city with Akira and Ichi the Killer.
When night descends, the streets become a kind of flickering, luminescent jungle. Tourists flock to see it, and various neon tours and cyberpunk photography walks have evolved to cater to them. Most intriguing of all, though, is the growing popularity of kojo yakei trips — night-time cruises around the waterside factories of Yokohama and Kawasaki, the industrial ports just to the south of the capital. Having arrived at Yokohama’s Red Brick Warehouse pier with minutes to spare, I’m ushered aboard a packed deck and offered a choice of coffee, water or beer.
Back in the UK, a tour around, say, the Billingham Manufacturing Plant probably wouldn’t strike much of a chord, but this tour is packed with eager Japanese sightseers, mostly under 35, many of them young couples on dates.